Quoting Bongo (Reply 3):I think it´s easier to land a real plane than to land an FS plane

I find it is. I've got way more hours in FS then I do with my actual licence and I still have problems with landing in FS. I find that you just don't have the sensations of movement or actual depth perception in FS as you do in the real world. Even landing with the ILS, FS just doesn't give you that sense of movement that I find helps me land (and fly in general).

Yup i agree it is harder to land on FSX due to the sensations of flight you need have but i have pretty much mastered take off and landing i fly PHF to CLT daily at least 3 or 4 times a day and its nothing for me to land anymore. But it wasnt that easy when i forst got FSX i had a real hard time landing.

It's easier if you can find the Ref speeds to fly at each flaps setting and try to cross the threshold at Vref +5kt.
Retard the throttles to Idle over the threshold and flare at 20 ft by just a small amount. Don't float!

Quoting B727-200 (Reply 1):I have noticed it is a little harder to land by stick on the bigger jets than in FS9 - anyone else think it is a little more difficult?

Hmm im not sure about the 747 in FSX but i find that the A320 when flaps fully deployed and gear down, using my stick the response is sluggish... Now I normally try to approach the runway at 140-150 depending on my loads and i always find the aircraft very slow to respong to my controls. Is this normal in real life also??
Infact after the aircraft is aroun 120-130 just before touchdown the plane seems to become very reactive to anymoves i make.
Anybody else get this also or is it just me??

Quoting CLEwatcher (Reply 2):practice will make it easier
but for me, its mostly dumb luck

Quoting Albird87 (Reply 12):
Hmm im not sure about the 747 in FSX but i find that the A320 when flaps fully deployed and gear down, using my stick the response is sluggish... Now I normally try to approach the runway at 140-150 depending on my loads and i always find the aircraft very slow to respong to my controls. Is this normal in real life also??
Infact after the aircraft is aroun 120-130 just before touchdown the plane seems to become very reactive to anymoves i make.
Anybody else get this also or is it just me??

I think it has something to do with the Airbus FBW system. I believe that the computer has to approved all inputs before the surfaces are deflected. ANyone feel free to confirm/correct.

Quoting JamesJimlb (Reply 8):Quoting Jamesbaldwyn (Reply 7):
I feel the same way. I make great landings in real GA. But on FS it's a different story.

I agree, the sensation of flight is missing greatly on Flight Sim, which makes a difference I guess.

Quoting Chksix (Reply 9):It's easier if you can find the Ref speeds to fly at each flaps setting and try to cross the threshold at Vref +5kt.
Retard the throttles to Idle over the threshold and flare at 20 ft by just a small amount. Don't float!

I would suggest fine tuning your control sensibility, because if your controls are too light you will crash definately because you will end up in a 90 degree nose dive with the slightest touch. If your controls are too heavy, you will not be able to pull up or down OR flare, which CLEWatcher could work on, he still had a little one though.

Regards

If Speed is life, Altitude is life insurance. No one has ever collided with the sky.

I still use FS9. But landing is the one thing that cannot be tought. It's more of an art than it is a science.

I remember using autoland (approach hold) and autothrottle to 'land' the plane. But since, I hardly ever do ILS approaches anymore, unless weather is pretty bad. I am one that really loves visual approaches. It makes you feel in control and knowing your aircraft, then watching some needle tell you when you are good. Most of the time, I land right on the centerline, about 1,250 down the runway, which is about 300 or 400 feet past the aiming boxes at an average of around -125 ft/min or so, which is not too shabby. Not to brag, but the only thing that will help landings is actually doing them. You can read all of the books in the world, but if you don't learn to feel the aircraft (hard to do in FS), then those books won't help you.

Most people who land a little rough like me saying this: The airplane should be flown onto the runway rather than floated and make a soft landing.

A harder landing is a safer one. (WITHIN reason)In your average commercial twin-engine jet, A -500 ft/min will ultimately destroy your landing gear, a -350 will probably bust a few bolts on the gear and give your pax a bit of a headache. A -250 is a firm, but safe landing, A -200 is just about perfect, A -150 is a still pretty perfect, A -100 is moving into unsafely floating, A -50 is not good, and lower is not good either. They may be comfortable, but a floated landing uses up precious stopping room, what if your brakes go out and you only have 5000 ft. of runway left? If you have 7,000 left, you may have enough room for momentum to die out before you reach the last turnoff. But, in FS unless you have failures set, then you don't have to worry about that, but if you have a program that randomly generates failures without you telling it to fail something, you might end up in the trick-bag.
Practice makes perfect when it comes to landing.

Quoting ACDC8 (Reply 5):I've got way more hours in FS then I do with my actual licence and I still have problems with landing in FS. I find that you just don't have the sensations of movement or actual depth perception in FS as you do in the real world.

I actually have to disagree. While I do believe it is hard to feel what's going on with the plane, and you don't have the added crutch of seeing around you, I'd say a real plane is far harder than Flight Simulator. I've done crazy landings, including doing a half-cuban off the runway, and diving straight towards the threshold with the flaps and spoilers out, and flaring out right onto the runway. Yet, it still stresses me to try to get a good landing off in a Cessna 152. I've left my share of marks, and had my share of go-arounds.

In most cases I probably have to agree with ACDC8. I find conducting a visual approach in a real aircraft very "natural" - even without any glideslope/VASI etc. reference, you constantly have a good idea of whether you're above or below the ideal profile, and whether the aircraft is set up to maintain that profile. In FS it's harder to "feel" your way to the runway, so to speak.

At threshold height in a real aircraft, you are very aware of where the runway is, and you can comfortably fly it through the flare and landing, again "feeling" your way to the tarmac. If you've under or over-flared a bit, you'll feel this and compensate. I find flying, say, the C172 in FS, I'll flare too high, and because I have no real idea exactly how far the runway is below me, end up stalling onto the tarmac, still 8-10 feet in the air.

I completely agree though, the other side of the coin is you can get away with FAR more in FS than you can in a real aircraft. I'd say in general, FS is not so much harder, as far less intuitive.

I found it almost impossible to any aircraft in FSX. I would get to about 500 ft from the runway then the "Pull up!" siren would go. Even without the siren the plane would just float over the runway despite whatever I did and I could never land.